History Always Repeats
by Nanaki RedXIII
Summary: It's a rule. History always repeats. Just this time it happened too soon. Will wasn't ready. Who could guess? There was one more left, a creature that had grown as he himself had aged. And it sets off a chain of events that Will would rather not relive...
1. Daydreams and Nightmares

**History Always Repeats  
**

**Chapter One: Daydreams and Nightmares**

_By Nanaki RedXIII_

_

* * *

_

It was a hot day in Redmont Fief. The world seemed lethargic, one giant blah that refused to get work done. The burning ball of fire that hung overhead like a disease, and that had been for some reason unknown named the Sun, did not help with the general productivity. Farmers, as hard working as they tend to be, were resting in the shade of their crops. Bakers and Cooks found it too sweltering to even bother with their food. Even the notorious Master Chubb was too hot to discipline his students. It was a most terrible day.

One certain young man in particular seemed to take the day off. His small form lay in an equally small clearing, resting his head against a rather mossy log. Not far away a shaggy pony cropped the at the grass, his saddles lying next to the young man. The young man seemed to be nodding off in the heat, eyes closed, muscles relaxed. His foot thumped a steady tattoo into the ground and he hummed along with it. It was the perfect day to be lazy and to rest. At the moment he was succeeding at doing just that.

The pony let out a little whinny, and one of the man's chocolate eyes opened slowly to peer at the horse. He didn't seem distressed, however, and that confused the young man. The horse didn't often make unnecessary noise. "There something wrong, Tug?" He asked, not expecting an answer but getting one anyway. His horse- Tug- had the oddest way of communicating through his eyes... or maybe that was just his lonely self creating a companion.

_We should get going. _

Tug was right. They really should set off to Castle Redmont. But... was just to _hot_. And they weren't expected for another two days. It wasn't as if they were going to be late. So why not enjoy the rest? After tracking down those idiotic bandits and making sure they would be in jail for a good amount of their life, he deserved a day of rest. Shrugging, Will Treaty closed his eyes, and let his thoughts wonder. Tug would warn him of any approaching threats.

He began to think. At first, he thought of his forever mentor, Halt. That scraggly old man was like a father to him. Will hoped he was okay. It was stupid, he knew, to be worrying about _the _Halt. But he worried all the same. As Lady Pauline had said: _He isn't getting any younger._ Will flashed a grin. The stubborn man most certainly was not. However Lady Pauline had convinced Halt to get a haircut... Will still doubted it ever happened.

Next he thought of Alyss. Of her angelic, gray-eyed face framed by her golden locks, her slender body... His grin turned to a the small smile of awe one might read about in a sappy romance novel. Behind his closed eyelids, Will's eyes were sparkling with affection. Oh how he had missed her! With a little embarrassment, he realized he had missed her more this past week than he had missed anyone before. She was wonderful, Alyss was. Simply amazing...

There must be magic in this world, because these Couriers seem to enchant Rangers quite easily.

Sighing, Will let his mind wonder on subjects of the past. Mainly on his training with Halt. Reviewing what he had learned could never hurt. It would actually be helpful. Maybe.

Before he knew it, Will Treaty was slipping off to sleep.

* * *

The darkness of the cave protected it. Saved it from the harsh rays of the burning ball of fire- the Sun. Shade was it's friend, its only friend. It had no mother. No father. They had both been killed. It didn't know how it knew it, it just did. It knew that humans had killed them, too. Though it really didn't care. Humans were just prey. If its parents had been killed by humans, then they didn't deserve their name. They were a disgrace. It would take up their positions as the nightmares of the human race. As long as it didn't have to go out under that fireball Sun.

Not that it was thinking these things. It wasn't _that _intelligent, of course.

All it wanted was the silver. All it cared about was the silver. And it's next meal, definitely. It had found a nice little cave, had found small little nuggets of silver. That's when the addiction began. It had to have more, had to figure out what the _shiny _was. It was so pretty... Best of all, humans had it! It got a meal, and the silver, at the same time! Oh how it loved its meals...

Its parents were supposed to be the last. But they weren't. They might have been killed, they might have been _burnt_. But they weren't the last. Those stupid little humans had no idea... It was lurking. Waiting. Keeping itself hidden, for now. Soon enough it would come out into the open. Soon enough it would devour those who killed its parents. It wasn't after revenge, it wasn't smart enough for that. But it did have a primal urge to kill anyone wearing a mottled cloak...

But for now, it was after the shiny. And as it felt the Sun disappear for the night and the moon begin to rise in the darkening sky, it raised it's hideous head along with it. Its dark, empowering eyes brightened a bit at the prospect of it's silver, and of its meal. The daytime was over, and now it could hunt. There was no giant ball of fire ready to set it aflame any second. Slowly, the ape-bear beast stalked out of its cave lair, bones crunching underneath it.

The Kalkara was on the hunt.

* * *

**Authors Note: **This is my first committed story. I'm trying to get Will's personality down... I feel like I screwed up somwhere. Maybe it was with Tug. Anyway, reviews would be awesome. The more reviews I get, the quicker I shall post the next chapter? I know you're dying to read the next part! Probably! Maybe! Hopefully! Ah, face it, you don't really care. But you shall! Soon!

Oh! And I don't own Ranger's Apprentice, though if I did that would be awesome. The only part of this I own is the IDEA and the WRITING. The characters belong to the Author. Hee. Anyway! Remember! Review! Now! Do it, I say! DO EEET!

Until next we meet_  
-Nanaki RedXIII_


	2. A Living Nightmare

**History Always Repeats**

**Chapter Two: A Living Nightmare**

_By Nanaki RedXIII_

_

* * *

_

The swirling night air was wonderful. It was the soothing salve to the day's horrible burn. The heat and stiff air had disappeared, as if by magic, and was replaced by a breeze and a much welcomed drop in temperature. The farmers were working again, a little late, but still working. The Cooks and Bakers were catching up on their missed time, baking and cooking feasts to commemorate a most momentous occasion: the cooling of Redmont Fief. Baron Arald himself would be attending.

It was also the perfect night for a hunt. No matter how hard you looked, the moon was nowhere to be found. So the only light that graced the dark, shadow-filled earth were the stars. Not enough for a human to see by on a normal evening, but the Kalkara also had the advantage of the skies, which had clouded soon after dark. It was if today the world was one of opposites. The day had been one of the hottest recorded in Redmont Fief, and then, suddenly, it became chilly. Quite amazing.

Despite these perfect hunting conditions, however, the Kalkara was having problems finding its meal. Perhaps something was wrong with its scent glands. Or maybe it was being too loud, or its prey had found out about its presence. Normally, a human scent was easy enough to pick out. They _were_ the foulest creatures to ever set foot on this earth to date-with their hideous, hairless bodies and strange proportions. Something that odd and foul was sure to have a matching scent.

The beast growled its aggravation and shook its giant head. Where was the prey, the food, the silver? Its demonic scarlet eyes scanned the ground for any sign of prey. There seemed to be nothing, however. The world was dead, just as the sky above. Was the whole forest conspiring against it? No matter how hard it peered into the deep shadows, no matter hard it sniffed for its prey, the Kalkara saw nothing, smelt nothing. Nothing but the trees-but of course those weren't edible. Or made of silver.

The Kalkara let out a defeated grunt; its version of a sigh, and began its rounds through the woods. It moved silently, despite its bulk, and unless you were some kind of supernatural being it would be almost impossible to pick it out from the eerie cloak of night. The Kalkara was just another flickering shadow. Except, it wasn't harmless, as shadows tend to be. One wrong move and you would be dead. Killed and devoured by a living nightmare until all that remains of you are memories and bloody, broken bones.

A most horrible way to die, one would have to agree.

If it couldn't find prey easily, like it could most nights, it would just have to find its prey the hard way: it would have to search. Searching was such a bother though... and most nights when it had to search, the Kalkara had no time to look for extra silver. That put it in a bad mood for quite a while, which wasn't good for the surrounding villages. At all. When it was in a bad mood, the Kalkara would need extra food. And everyone knows what that means.

More disappearing farmers.

It would be so much easier if the villages sent it tributes of meat and silver. But, _no_. Instead, it had to hunt. Which, of course, _could _be fun. If executed in the right way...

* * *

_Something was wrong._

He lay still, keeping his breath steady and deep, to match that of a sleeping man. There was no need to let the intruder know he had noticed his or her presence. Though, it was odd. Will recognized what he was feeling as... _something _watching him. There lay the problem. It was a _something_. Somehow, he was sure it wasn't a human. It was a _something _he had encountered before, too. But he couldn't place what exactly it was. No matter how hard he dug into his memories, he couldn't figure it out.

Most likely, it was an animal. Maybe a wolf; though, it would be odd for Will to feel only one set of eyes boring into him if it were a wolf. Loners weren't a common sight, and if there was a pack around he would have seen the tracks. Any other animal Will could think of, he would have seen the tracks of. It was, of course, a possibility he had missed the tracks all together. But that was highly unlikely. Before stopping in the clearing, he had checked to make sure it was a reasonably safe area to camp.

The only predator he had identified was an adolescent _fox_. The intensity of the gaze locked onto him right now was that of something more... powerful-more substantial-than a fox.

Judging by the almost nothing amount of light that was filtering through his eyelids, Will Treaty guessed it was night. That meant his enemy, whatever it was, had the advantage. It knew where he was, where as Will... all he knew was that something was there. Somewhere. And he had no idea where. Sitting next to him, already knocked, was his longbow, but unless he knew where his target was it would be useless. _Somethings_ probably weren't scared of longbows, because _somethings _probably weren't that smart. Hopefully. If they were, then Will was in for one heck of a night.

As discreetly as possibly, he cracked one eye open. Just a little. It took quite a time for the eye to adjust to the minimum lighting, but once it did Will's gaze was darting from tree to tree, shadow to shadow, not seeing anything but darkness. It seemed useless, his looking. A futile effort to find an enemy that was rivaling a Ranger in the art of concealment. Thinking that it would be dangerous to leave his eye open any longer, he closed it again and instead focused on his hearing.

That was when he truly became worried. He couldn't hear any of the normal nighttime noises. No crickets, no faint _hoo, hoo, _of the owls. It was if the forest had died as he had been sleeping. Really, all he could hear were the eerie creaks, moans and rustles of the wind as it played its little nighttime games through the trees. Not a comforting sound, when one was paranoid as he was at the moment. Of course, in the dead of night, there were few comforting things.

One of those things would be the moon, which, when he had been scanning the area, Will had noticed was not in its normal place above as guardian. A perfect night for this secret _something _to attack.

_It was silent. And then, suddenly, there was noise._

There were several loud _thumps _of beastly feet hitting the ground that sent Wills heart racing with fear, the daunting roar of a starving monster, the terrified _neigh _of a frightened horse, and then the blood-curdling _crunch _of snapping bones.

When Will opened his eyes, a scream of horror was torn from his lips as he watched as a shadow attack his companion, his friend for many years now. He couldn't make out _what_ the creature was, all he knew was horror as the horse's tortured _neighs _were cut off along with its head.

Will watched, failing to suppress the torrent of tears that had been building up, as Tug was killed and devoured in front of him by a nightmare incarnate.

* * *

**Authors Note: **Okay, this chapter is most certainly better than the last. And a bit longer, too! I worked harder on this one, methinks. My goal is that every chapter has to be around a page longer then the last. That's probably not going to happen, but still. It never hurts to have a goal!

Yeah... you probably all hate me right now, for killing off Tug. But... History never repeats exactly the same, and in this story you'll notice that. I'm not going to completely rip off the book's storyline... -cough-cough-

Anyway! Thanks to my reviewers and alert people! You guys were the motivation for this chapter! If I hadn't gotten any reviews, this chapter probably would have been put off for a week! Thanks!

**Lady Maeror: **I noticed some of the errors right after posting the first chapter. Hopefully they should mostly be fixed up in that one, and this one too! If you notice any, please tell me. I fail at grammar... And thanks for being the first to review!

**Bookworm73:** Thanks for reviewing! It's just my fail attempt at coming up with a fanfic plot, not being able to, so NOT COMPLETELY -cough- ripping off the book's plotline. But if you think it is a good idea than you are right! The customer is always right, and you are a customer now! So your right! Unless you don't like the story, then you're wrong...

Um... okay, that was a long AN. I'll try to make them shorter next time! Maybe! IDONTOWNRANGERSAPPRENTICE KTHANXBAI!


End file.
